Sunday, October 05, 2014

ST. LOUIS -- After flying through the night and touching down in St. Louis around 6 a.m. CT on Sunday, most Cardinals players and staff members stayed away from Busch Stadium on the team's off-day.

While it is customary for teams to hold a workout on non-game days during a postseason series, manager Mike Matheny urged everyone to stay home, sleep and re-energize before Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the Dodgers on Monday (8 or 8:30 p.m. CT on FOX Sports 1). The only obligations the club had on the off-day was to make Matheny and Game 3 starter John Lackey available during afternoon news conferences.

"Hopefully they're getting a good sleep today and getting ready for tomorrow," Matheny said. "Put that [Game 2 loss] behind us and realize we've got a couple of great games here at home and watch our fan base here get excited about us being back here."

Still pending confirmation to the rumor that Don Mattingly is having his team run stadium steps on Monday.